I Know These Are Not Turkey...

Sometimes we have so much fun on the lake in the summer time with red dirt bare feet and water sports that we forget winter, with it's different colors and migrating birds can be a beautiful time also.  

I was by my lonesome this morning as Cathy had worked last night. A blog post from several years ago documenting a Thanksgiving trip shows us with large blue cats caught in shallow water. I tried shallow first thing and after about 30 minutes went to my favorite deep spot and there they were. 

It was 28' deep and surface water was 59 degrees. Wind was from the north. in 1.5 hours I had 22 cats. I could have easily totaled a one man limit of 25 but was not sure how many were packed in the live well so I played it safe and headed home. 

A few weeks ago I picked up a $5 rod and reel combo at the thrift store. It was a barely used Zebco 202 with matching rod like we used to get from the Green Stamp Store when I was a kid. This set up looks to even have the original line. I would guess the vintage is early 80s but there are few differences from the late 60s and early 70s combos we used. 

After having a large bass take a black devil's horse and strip all my line off one of these in the early 1970s I graduated to spending hard earned lawn mowing money on heavier tackle but for these 12-15 inch cats this rig got the job done.   

Another fall scene along the lake bank. Can you spot the bald eagle?